Massachusetts Senate Advances Bill to Establish Commission with Power to Set Auto Repair Labor Rates

Adverse legislation to establish a commission with the authority to determine labor rates that must be paid to auto repair shops has advanced in the Massachusetts Senate.

The bill, S-122, which had previously been considered and approved by the Joint Committee on Financial Services as well as the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, was approved by the Senate Ways and Means Committee yesterday.

NAMIC members with contacts in the Senate should contact Senate offices to urge no further action on the bill prior to the end of the Legislature’s formal session on July 31.

The bill would create a commission that would “establish an average national auto repairer hourly compensation rate for all categories of labor performed by auto repairers, including but not limited to, body labor, paint labor, unibody or frame labor, and mechanical labor.”

The commission would designate three levels of qualifications to designate auto repair shops as class A, B, or C. Shops designated at level C would be paid “a fair and reasonable amount for all labor hours they negotiate.” Shops classified at level B “must be paid an amount not less than ninety per cent of the indexed hourly labor rate in force at the time of the completion of the job for all labor hours they negotiate,” according to the bill. And shops classified at level A “must be paid an amount not less than one hundred per cent of the indexed hourly labor rate in force at the time of the completion of the job for all labor hours they negotiate.”